The Road to Revolution

Unit 2: Revolutionary America

Essential Questions  Was the Revolutionary War inevitable?

 What were the events that led to the start of the Revolutionary War

England Following the Seven Years War  Victor, but not invincible  One of the world’s largest empires  Deeply in debt (£140 million)  ½ spent in North America  Colonial American attitudes toward England  Potential alternatives to revolution

Roots of Revolution  Republicanism  Greek and Roman republics  Public good over individual interests  Radical Whigs  British political commentators  Feared impact of arbitrary power of the monarch  Structure of colonial society  Formation of the 13 colonies

Mercantilism  Wealth is power  As measured by gold and silver  Advantages of owning colonies  Source of gold/silver  Market for finished goods  Source of raw materials  Navigation Laws of 1650 (anti-Dutch)

Impact of Mercantilism      Colonial currency shortage Lack of competitiveness Lack of innovation  AS reading Additional laws could nullify colonial laws that interfered with mercantilism Yet, colonials enjoyed some monopoly power and the protection of British army and navy

Paying One’s Fair Share  Prime Minister Grenville  Strict enforcement of the Navigation Acts  The need for tax revenue:  Sugar Act of 1764 – duty or indirect tax   Quartering Act 1765 Stamp Tax 1765  British people had one that was harsher

Colonial Reaction  AS – Benjamin Franklin’s interview  Non-compliance of the Quartering Act  Fear of loss of basic rights  Use of admiralty courts with no jury and assumption of guilt  Questioned British motives

Colonial Response  Legislation versus taxation  Actual versus virtual representation  Stamp Act Congress of 1765  Nonimportation agreements  Enforcement  Stamp Act repealed in 1766

Reassertion of Control  Declaratory Act  Absolute and unqualified sovereignty  Continuing confrontation  Townshend Acts including import duty of glass, paper and tea (among other things)  Suspension of New York legislature  Prosperity in the colonies made nonimportation difficult to enforce  Smuggling

Boston Massacre  March 5, 1770  Sixty Bostonian taunted ten Redcoats  Death of Crispus Attucks

Further Unrest      Prime Minister North repealed Townshend Acts except for duty on tea Committees of Correspondence British East India Co.

Act of defiance against the tea tax Boston Tea Party (12/16/1773)

And Then the British…….

 Anger directed towards colonies and Boston, in particular  Intolerable Acts  Boston Ports Act  Restrictions and loss of rights  New Quartering Act  Quebec Act  Colonial perception

Which Prompted the Colonial Americans to……  Sympathetic response to plight of Boston  First Continental Congress  Georgia was absent  Social interaction  Convention, not congress  The Association  Lexington and Concord

Imperial Strengths and Weaknesses  Might empire (3 to 1 population advantage)  Monetary wealth and naval strength  Loyalists and Indians  Ireland  Lack of unified support at home  Second rate generals  Distance  Lack of supplies  Size of the colonies

Colonial Strength and Weaknesses  Strong leadership  Foreign aid  Defensive fighters  Belief in a just cause  Badly organized  Lacking in unity  Economic difficulties  Shortages, corruption and profiteering

African American Soldiers  British offered freedom to southern slaves to fight on their side  Initially barred in some states from fighting, more than 5,000 fought for American independence